Ttntag arrest

Thai police have arrested a Chinese fugitive wanted by Beijing for allegedly running illegal online gambling operations and will soon extradite him to China, the police told Reuters on Monday. She Zhijiang, 40, a Chinese national who also holds a Cambodian passport, was arrested last week based on an international warrant and an Interpol red notice, Thailand's deputy police spokesman Kissana Phathanacharoen said. According to Chinese news outlet Caixin , She has been on the run from the Chinese authorities since 2012 and has been involved with illegal online gambling operations in Southeast Asia. China's embassy in Thailand did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gambling is illegal in mainland China and online gaming operators, mostly targeting Chinese gamblers, have flourished in Southeast Asia in recent years. "He is a suspect that the Chinese authority wants... The extradition process to China is currently ongoing," Phathanacharoen said. According to … [Read more...] about Thai police arrest suspected Chinese gambling kingpin

Many hospitals in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have run out of beds as an increasing number of children have been infected with various respiratory diseases like COVID-19, influenza, bronchitis, and pneumonia. Nguyen Thanh Nam, director of the Pediatric Center of Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi, said that the facility has been providing treatment for about 130 young patients with respiratory diseases such as flu, nasopharyngitis, pharyngitis, bronchitis, and pneumonia over the past month. The same situation was recorded at the Vietnam National Children's Hospital and National Hospital of Tropical Diseases in the capital city. On Saturday, P.V.Q. took his one-year-old son to a private hospital, where the boy was diagnosed with pneumonia. The young patient needed hospital admission but the infirmary had already run out of beds. Q. then brought the boy to the Vietnam National Children's Hospital, but the facility was also full of patients. In Ho Chi Minh City, Children’s Hospital 1, … [Read more...] about Hospitals run out of beds as respiratory diseases spike among children in Hanoi, Saigon

MANILA -- About 2.3 million people in the Philippines were pushed into poverty between 2018 and 2021, largely due to the economic downturn caused by the pandemic, the statistics agency said on Monday. The number of people living in poverty in 2021 rose to a total of almost 20 million or 18.1% of the population from 16.7% in 2018, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said, overshooting the government's target of 15.5%-17.5%. Recently inaugurated President Ferdinand Marcos Jr aims to slash the poverty rate to 9% by the end of his single six-year term in 2028 - a target that remains achievable despite soaring inflation, according to Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan. He said the government's strategy will focus on fully reopening the economy, investing in human capital and social protection, and transforming production sectors to generate more and quality jobs and competitive products. "We can reduce poverty incidence by 5 percentage points at midterm, and … [Read more...] about Pandemic pushed millions more into poverty in the Philippines: govt

Britain, the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine in late 2020, has now also given the first green light to a variant-adapted shot that targets both the original and Omicron version of the virus. The UK medicines regulator (MHRA) gave the so-called bivalent vaccine made by U.S. drug company Moderna conditional approval as a booster for adults on Monday. Later on Monday, the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) backed the use of the variant-adapted shot in the country's booster campaign starting September. The MHRA's Moderna decision was based on clinical trial data that showed the booster triggered "a strong immune response" against both Omicron (BA.1) and the original virus, it said. Moderna in June said trial data showed that when given as a fourth dose, the variant-adapted shot raised virus-neutralizing antibodies by eight-fold against Omicron. The MHRA also cited an exploratory analysis in which the shot was found to generate a "good … [Read more...] about UK first to approve Omicron COVID shot with Moderna nod

Phu Quoc Island off the coast of Kien Giang Province in southern Vietnam is mired in a garbage crisis, and waste treatment solutions seem ineffective. The island city discharges some 180 metric tons of solid waste and 17,500 cubic meters of wastewater daily. By 2025, the pearl island, among top-rated tourist destinations in Vietnam, will need to treat 400-650 metric tons of garbage per day. Open-air waste dumps Garbage in Phu Quoc is dumped at a temporary landfill in the Dong Cay Sao area in Cua Duong Commune. Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters found that the volume of garbage at the landfill has tripled in the last two months. The odor from the garbage and leachate is terrible. Meanwhile, a waste treatment plant in Bai Bon Hamlet, Ham Ninh Commune whose investor is Minh Thuan Thanh Construction Investment Co. Ltd. will be operated on a trial basis over the next two months. A project assessment report will be released after the trial operation period. If the … [Read more...] about Waste treatment on Vietnam’s Phu Quoc Island raises concern

SYDNEY -- Former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday defended taking on extra ministerial roles without his cabinet's knowledge during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it was "an unprecedented time" and that the powers served as a safeguard. Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Morrison had sought to centralise power and that he is seeking legal advice from the Solicitor-General, Australia's second law officer, on the arrangements. Morrison's actions to make himself health, finance and resources minister between 2020 and 2021 have also drawn criticism from his Liberal party's coalition partner, the National party, and former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, as undermining Westminster parliamentary traditions. Morrison, who lost office in a national election in May, said in a radio interview on Tuesday he didn't make the arrangements public because they were a safeguard only and the ministerial powers for health and finance were not triggered. "We had … [Read more...] about Australia’s former PM Morrison defends secret minister roles